I've owned Starship Catan for a long time. I've pulled it out at least once with each of my kids and put it away when it seemed way to complex, most recently with my youngest a couple of months ago.

I decided to try again today.. it might be because we've recently learned Catan Card Game but it all seemed quite straightforward when I read through the rules again. And so we played. And it seemed like it should be fun, but I couldn't make any progress while my son could build anything he wanted, seemingly due to his having randomly drawn one specific card early in the game which gave him a resource vital to everything which I couldn't get. I ended up stopping the game after an hour or so because it was going nowhere for me. we'll try again before giving it away..

followed it up with Balloon Cup which he's played before and likes a lot.

then this afternoon I found a package on the doorstep - surprising since our mail isn't delivered on Saturdays - containing Key Market. I've recently taught my sons to play Keythedral and we liked the look of the latest game in the series so I've been hanging out for it to arrive. my older kids were busy so I sat down with my seven-year-old to give it a shot. had a horrible time with the manual (I probably needed to spend time reading while setting up a dummy game rather than skimming them then trying to teach my still-learning-to-read son) but once it clicked it was a lot of fun. we had to stop after only four seasons of play (the game is supposed to last eight) and I'm looking forward to getting back to it soon..

played Glen More with my sons after school today, another first play for us. I enjoyed it, and I liked that the colours are much easier for me to distinguish than are many other games which use brown and green cubes. I also like that it plays well with two (haven't tried it yet, but what I've read here indicates this is the case) so I can play with my youngest (my most frequent fellow player) when we can't round anyone else up.

afterwards I played Race for the Galaxy with my twelve-year-old - my first time playing the physical card game against a real live human opponent (I've played the solo variant and the online version plenty this week). I doubt it'll cure my son of his Magic obsession, but I think he enjoyed it enough that he'll play again soon (even if I did win this game..)

very little time to play this afternoon, squeezed in a quick game of Kahuna with my seven-year-old son. last time we played it he didn't really get the game and he wasn't keen to play it again at the time - today he gave me a real run for my money. I beat him in one round and we tied in the other two.

played Race for the Galaxy twice, solo using the The Gathering Storm expansion. I lost both times. once very badly. I've downloaded the PC/online client and played several games against AI players - I find the PC version more enjoyable to play solo since it feels like my opponents are playing the same game as me, but the dice/chart AI will be great if I'm away from home - I can now take RftG along with me to play alone (or to teach someone else if the opportunity arises)

I'm looking forward to trying it out against an actual breathing opponent sometime soon..

had time for a full game of Egizia with my youngest this afternoon. nice pieces and an interesting mechanism. It feels a little more contrived than other Euros I've played but it moves quickly and plays well - our game today ended in a tie and my son is sure he'll beat me next time.

Nothing played to anything like completion today but after several failed attempts I'm very pleased to presume I finally understand how to play Race for the Galaxy I think having learned Puerto Rico a few weeks ago helped a lot. I played a few turns with my 12yo son this afternoon and it all made sense - hoping to get a full game in later in the week.

I also took a first look at Egizia with my 7yo son - I had its BGG page open and he asked if we had that game, when I said yes he asked could he play it. We didn't really have time but I can't say no to any request to try out a new game so I broke the seal and pressed its tiles then read the manual while he sorted the wooden pieces into player-colours. we played three turns (the game lasts five) and had a good time - there are a lot of cards for him to learn the meanings of but I think we'll have it down pat after a couple of full learning play-throughs.

joined by a couple of friends this morning to play World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game. I think it was the first time I've played it with mostly adults - the game flowed much more smoothly than it does when I'm talking my youngest through his options and I think everyone had a good time. It helps that I won (which doesn't happen often), from my perspective at least.

next we played Survive: Escape from Atlantis!, followed by Factory Fun - great game/horrible colour choices. I had so much trouble with red and green machine parts that I may never play again, but I'll be encouraging my family to play it when I can't join them.

I finished the day with co-op Conquest of Planet Earth with my seven-year old. we lasted five turns before fleeing the planet, soundly beaten by the human defenses. I'm looking forward to trying the competitive game when I can get a group of older players together.

I've played World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game with my seven-year-old son (and his older brother) a couple of times in the past week. He's loved it, but the reading is a bit beyond him so both games were slow going once he was trying to juggle ten ability cards and remember what they did and when they could be used..

..so this morning we revisited Defenders of the Realm, a game I haven't played since the week it arrived last year. I thought its visual and thematic similarity to WoW:tAG might appeal to him, and being co-op with minimal reading required it should flow more smoothly. And it did, and (once we anchored the incredible toppling blue dragon) he had a great time.

next we played a quick couple of rounds of King Up! with my wife followed by our first play through Fürstenfeld which I think is neat, not a potential favourite game but it was a good time and I think it'll make a good mixed-ages game since it isn't too hard to teach to a child but there are enough decisions to keep most adult players happy.

played a solo game of Conquest of Planet Earth today and lost badly due to a constant stream of s when I rolled for Action Points.

after my sons finished school we played World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game, once again without finishing (my seven-year-old can play the game but he can't read the cards well and explaining them to him every turn slows things down a lot.) I have friends coming to play on Sunday and WoW:tAG has been requested so playing with the kids has been a good way to brush up on the rules.

finally, I've just played Conquest of Planet Earth again, solo again, and I did much better this time. I used the Command Counters from the competitive game - drew them randomly from a cup to keep the element of chance there, but I was assured of getting some high Action Point totals amongst the s. It seemed to work well. I won

received a bunch of games in the post today. I know my boys are going to love Conquest of Planet Earth, had planned on checking it out today but we ran out of time.

instead we played another new arrival: Survive: Escape from Atlantis! which I found easy to teach and fast-moving enough that I'm sure it'll see regular after-school action. when we play as a family on the weekend my wife usually encourages the kids to "play nice" so I like to play games with a high "screw you" factor during the week, just so they don't get too thin-skinned